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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Aeolic Lyrics 



Aeolic Lyrics 




By 
HOWARD B. SEITZ 

Author of "Stephen Mulhew," a novel, Published 
by this House 



NEW YORK 

THE COSMOPOLITAN PRESS 

1913 



5^^^ 






Copyright, 1913, by 
Howard B. Seitz 



©CI,A354049 



PRO-LEAF 

Zephyrs of feeling thrill and thrum the 

bosom's strings, 
And fling the alcyonian soul on soaring 

wings. 

As pours the limpid purling rill, 
As wells the kinglet's liquid trill. 
So flow from out the mind of man 
Fancies and thoughts the emotions fan. 



;• CONTENTS 

PAGE 

O Brook! 9 

To the Vesper Sparrow 11 

Autumn Auguries 12 

To Spring's First Gem 14 

The Wild Morning-Glory 15 

In Memory of Minnie Bley 16 

When Dewdrops Sparkle in the Grass 17 

A Solitary Lover and Two Wild Roses 18 

Plea for a Butterfly's Freedom 19 

At the Fireside 20 

The Summer Zephyr Blows 21 

First Love 22 

The Lover's Invitation 23 

Dreaming 25 

Why Weepest Thou? 27 

Lines of a Youthful Prince 28 

There's a Wild Mossy Glen 30 

Somehow, Somewhere, Some Time, Some One 31 

A First Spring Day 32 

The Lover's Requiem 33 

Her Birthday 34 

The Call of the Bluebird 35 

Eastertide 36 

The Lover's Longing 37 

To the Irish 38 

In the World of My Dreams 39 

Tolstoy 40 

Death : Unleashing the Soul 41 

O My Soul 42 

Victor Hugo 43 

Ye Minds of France 44 

Schiller 45 

Rumi, the Persian Mystic 46 

To a Bird's-Foot Violet In December 47 

Woman : Master of Man 48 



O BROOK! 

By a clear purling brook in a moss-green glen, 
Far from the busy life and strife of men, 
I stroll and loll this early vernal day, 
Content all care and rue to pass away. 

'Tis sweet, O brook ! again to hear you sing 

With impulses of ev'ry springing thing. 

Of bursting bud and tender em'rald blade, 

Of bubbling bird trills and tinkling rills unstayed. 

Wending your way thru swampy springing mead- 
ows, 
By spice and birch and golden glowing willows. 
To lave the roots of buttonwood and maple. 
Whose bloom glints forth and tints the green of 
April. 

Rushing headlong thru the bushy pasture wild, 
Where, haply, by the bland south wind beguiled, 
Are sheltered feathered pioneers of spring. 
Where the chary fox sparrow and the red-wings 
sing. 

By arbutus-grown slopes softly are you led 
Between ferny banks and o'er a stony bed, 



10 AEOLIC LYRICS 

Tumbling and murm'ring thru the woodland dells 
Singing music sweet as far-off sheep-bells. 

Rippling, dimpling, bubbling, blithely as you go. 
Oh, that I the secret of your joy could know ! 
Still I linger and I listen to your merry lay ; 
And, O brook, I would that man were so contently 
gay! 



AEOLIC LYRICS 11 

TO THE VESPER SPARROW 

Wee humble bay-wing of the greening pasture lane, 
It calms and joys my heart to see thee reappear 

To lift thy modest voice in quavering refrain 

And swell the song of feathered choirs this spring- 
ing year. 

Thy strain hath not the joyful ringing melody 
Of lark songs, nor the rapture of the song spar- 
row. 

Thy pensive lay is trilled with lyric euphony, 
Like the purling fall of crystal rills that overflow. 

Tho thou singest constant and unheeded unto men, 
I love to hear thy soulful trills that lapse away 

Serenely in the shrouding dusk above the fen 
With the fading twilight of the dying day. 



13 AEOLIC LYRICS 

AUTUMN AUGURIES 

The scattered yellow hickories of Chestnut Hill 

Against the azure of the August sky 
Merge the hues of April's greening deshabille 
Into tinges of October's gilded scarlet frill, 

And show me Autumn's drawing nigh. 

The cornel-trees and sumacs in wild nooks 

In mellow robes with one another vie, 
The blushing maples bord'ring sluggish brooks 
Mark Nature's languishment with lustrous looks — 
Telling me that Autumn's drawing nigh. 

The lanky stalk on which the goldfinch feeds 

Its bursting thistle pod lifts high 
Above the wayside fence and sister weeds ; 
Already fades the herds-grass in the meads — 

Telling me that Summer's passing by. 

I hear the liquid whistle of the plover 

In the dewy morning's chilly sky ; 
The black-capped mocker mopes, the wren is som- 
ber, 
The song sparrow sings not as a lover — 

Telling me that Summer's passing by. 

Tho crickets and cicadas chirp with wonted style, 

The katydids lamenting sigh 
And weirdly chant in the gloomy forest aisle ; 
The toiling bees collect saccharic spoil, — ^the while 

They warn me Autumn's drawing nigh. 



AEOLIG LYRICS 13 

Loose flocks of blackbirds and sweet-twitt'ring swal- 
lows 

Now daily throng and dark the sky; 
The warbler on its southward journey follows 
The same sure instinct that will move its fellows, — 

And warns me Autumn's drawing nigh. 

And I am not too heedless to discern 

Youth's guileless joys are lapsing by. 
For Childhood's happy day I vainly yearn, 
And to the Future dubiously turn, — 

Seeing my Autumn looming nigh. 



14 AEOLIC LYRICS 

TO SPRING'S FIRST GEM 

To thee, thou jewel of the bleak March wood! 

I loose Euterpe's tongue ; 
For thee, Hepatica, thou queenly bloom ! 

Shall my humble lyre be strung. 

Sweet firstling, flow'ring paragon of spring, 

So modest, yet so bold, — 
Why, O Paradisal blossom ! dost thou gem 

This wood-side bare and cold ? 

'Tis not to sate the searching scientist 

And please his patient eye, 
But the roamer's pensive mind and turmoiled heart 

To cheer and pacify. 

I highly treasure thee because thou art 

The first fair flow'r of spring, — 
Amidst this ill-disposed environment 

A lovely little thing; 

But much more dearly thee do I esteem 

Inasmuch thou mindest me 
Of one, whose radiant image gemis my dreams, 

A being sweet and pure like thee. 



AEOLIC LYRICS 15 

THE WILD MORNING-GLORY 

There blooms before the heat of August noon 
On the wood-border's sandy slope 
A starlike flow'r that illumes the eyes and soon 
Imbues my soul with splendent hope. 

The traihng vine hides with a jealous care 

This virgin cup of lucid dew 
From early sun's oblique unthirsting glare, 

As if the noontide scorch it knew. 

But it is not concealed from looks of such 
As seek surcease from human moil, 

'Tis not withheld from the admiring touch 
Of fingers that will not despoil. 

Ay, well, O God ! the morning's glory may it be, 

To me 'tis as a morning-star ! 
Sublimely, mutely eloquent — extolling Thee — 

Benign Creation's avatar ! 

When all without is locked in ice and snow 
Still then before my eyes will loom 

Beyond the dying embers' glim'ring glow 
This Summer morn's untarnished bloom. 



16 AEOLIC LYRICS 

IN MEMORY OF MINNIE BLEY 

There lies far back upon the meadow slope 
A grave that holds the dust of youthful hope, 
And between the green hedgerows shimmering 

stands 
A white slab that points toward yonder lands 
And becks the tear-dimmed gaze from earth away 
To the heavenly bliss of Minnie Bley. 

The roses here unclose their scented bloom. 
The woodbine's slender stem entwines the tomb. 
In the hickory grove the mourning-dove 
And his murmuring mate coo songs of love. 
Here Memory recalls the happy day 
When my heart was beloved by Minnie Bley. 

A maiden pure with radiant beauty fair, 

A queenly lily crowned with golden hair. 

In her snowy breast throbbed a tender chord 

That responded to love of mine outpoured. 

But shining beings gently bore away 

To the realms up above my bonnie Minnie Bley. 

Ay, weep with me, ye drooping willows, weep. 

As ye your wistful vigils softly keep, 

By the side of the trembling aspen trees 

That breathe grief to the gentle summer breeze, 

And closely screen the burning sunshine's ray 

From the grave of the sleeping Minnie Bley. 



AEOLIC LYRICS 17 

WHEN DEWDROPS SPARKLE IN THE 
GRASS 

When dewdrops sparkle in the grass 
And silver streamlets by me pass, 
Then cast aside the glist'ning glass 

With its deceitful dregs. 
The revels of the giddy feast 
May hold in bond the sensual beast, — • 
Thank Heaven, I'm again released ! 

Amid the crystal-laden segs 
Shoulder-deep I stand, and reverently view 
Heaven's far-swrept vault, and breathe thin 

sprays of dew. 
Oh, could Morning's liquid clarity imbue 

My mind ! — the spirit humbly begs. 



18 AEOLIC LYRICS 

A SOLITARY LOVER AND TWO WILD 
ROSES 

Tho it be the full meridian of June, 

When from pain the mind should be immune, 

The wood-throstle's golden fluted tune, 

The wild grape's fragrant blooming bowers are 

jejune, — 
Sweet anguish aches, and from my heart will not 

depart. 

I roam among the old familiar haunts ; 

I dully hear the black-capped mocker's saucy taunts. 

Ever and anon before me Mem'ry flaunts 

An image that my restless spirit daunts. 

Ah, could the dream transform to tactile form ! 

I pluck two blushing roses from the laden stem. 
Oh, happy fancy ! these thy sunny hair shall gem ! 
These thy lips will lushly touch ! I'll send thee them ! 
These refresh my dream. These thou wilt not con- 
temn. 
As now I think of thee, then thou wilt think of me ! 



AEOLIC LYRICS 19 

PLEA FOR A BUTTERFLY'S FREEDOM 

Ah, thoughtless little lad ! 

Wert thou to only know 
How sweet is that existence, 

Thou wouldst soon let it go 
With glee upon its wings 

Back to its happy sphere, 
There to enjoy its life, 

So short and yet so dear ! 

Wouldst thou not rather see 

It dancing in the air 
And sporting 'mid the clover 

And its kinsfolk free and fair? 
Ay, little brother mine. 

It too delights to play, 
And mark, — no creature is 

As this so blithe and gay ! 



20 AEOLIC LYRICS 

AT THE FIRESIDE 

When the northwest wind chilling blows, 
And when the fireside warmly glows, 
Then truly Love's cup overflows. 
From heart to heart this message goes : 
"We shall sever, — never — never!" 

Cheerily cracked the cosy hearthstone. 
Merrily beamed bright eyes that softly shone. 
Two souls that knelt at Hymen's throne 
Communed in an unuttered tone : 
"We shall sever, — never — never !" 

The memories of Love's young year, 
Of little children's prattling cheer, 
Of mutual joys and throes, endear 
The tie and whisper in each ear : 

"We shall sever, — never — never !" 

As the sun fires Autumn's sere, so blushed 
A mother's faded cheek and flushed 
A sire's drawn brow ; for each there gushed 
One thought, to each all others hushed, — 
"We shall sever, — never — never !" 

Recalled and sweetly are retold 
Old words set up in types of gold ; 
From each to each 'tis fondly told 
That God their bond would always hold : 
"We shall sever, — never — never !" 



AEOLIC LYRICS 21 

THE SUMMER ZEPHYR BLOWS 

Tl^e Summer zephyr blows o'er billowed ripened 

grain, 
And whispers thru the bladed corn, and swells the 

sweet refrain 
That delicately comes from lush tall-standing grass 
Where grasshoppers and contented crickets pass 
Their chirring notes in ceaseless chorus. Softly stir 
The taper chestnut leaves, and the poplars sway and 

purr 
In the woodland's mass of green ; dead branches 

weirdly creak. 
Ripples murmur on the wave in the shallow creek. 



23 AEOLIC LYRICS 



FIRST LOVE 

Tho all may quaff again out of the brimming bowl, 
Is there one owns not that disappointment stole 
The quintessential nectar from each sequent cup? 
The pristine taste the memory will ne'er give up. 

Nor reckless dissipation nor Labor's steep can 
drown 

Love that Death has severed or that Hymen failed 
to crown. 

Tho buried deep within the man and walled apart, 
Anon sweet seraphs will unlock the vaulted heart. 



AEOLIC LYRICS 23 

THE LOVER'S INVITATION 

Oh, come with me, my Love ! 
With azure skies above, 
This bright morn of May 
We'll blithely hie away 
To the wild blooming glen 
Where tread no feet of men. 
Where Nature spreads green covers 
For her secretive lovers. 

Oh, wilt thou not be there. 
Dear Love, with me to share 
The mossy-cushion'd rock ? 
There I shall interlock 
Thy little hand in mine ; 
As tendrils cling and twine 
The rose, my arms enfold 
Thee, and as softly hold. 

There all day may be heard 

Love lays from ev'ry bird. 

And they too will hear me 

Recite my love to thee. 

The squatting squirrel peering nigh 

May list for thy reply; 

But only thou and I shall hear 

Thy murmur in my ear. 

The scarlet columbine 
And honied woodbine 
Invite the dewy kiss, 



24 AEOLIC LYRICS 

And entertain with bliss. 

Thy ruby lips, thy smile demure, 

Thy shining eyes, allure 

Me to touch thy soul with mine 

And feel the fire from thine. 

As the broad-spreading mandrake 
Protects its gem, I'll take 
And shelter thee, fair flow'r, 
Against all storms that lour. 
Do not demur and hide 
And stay far from my side. 
Oh, come to me, sweet Love, 
And be my tender dove ! 



AEOLIC LYRICS 25 



DREAMING 

Dreaming, dreaming, vainly dreaming: 
Dreams all still more dreamlike deeming; 
Hopes all almost hopeless seeming. 
Ends are farther from me gleaming. 

Vainly dreaming. 
Dreaming, dreaming, vainly dreaming 
Well the future will be meeding; 
Empty present by me speeding, 
Wasted past, but little heeding. 

Dreaming, dreaming. 

Dreaming, dreaming, sweetly dreaming: 
Soft eyes in my dreams are sheening; 
Confidently, raptly weening 
Trustful love upon me leaning. 

Sweetly dreaming. 
Dreaming, dreaming, sweetly dreaming: 
Coyish passion you are derning; 
Lush lips languidly for mine are yearning, 
Pulsing veins aflame like mine are burning. 

Dreaming, dreaming. 

Dreaming, dreaming, wildly dreaming: 
Direful images devising; 
Dubiously, daringly surmising 
Somber doom before me rising. 

Wildly dreaming. 
Dreaming, dreaming, wildly dreaming ; 
Fading pleasure with the fleshling dying ; 



26 AEOLIC LYRICS 

Fire the spirit purifying; 
God the godlike glorifying. 
Dreaming, dreaming. 

Dreaming, dreaming, ever dreaming: 
Always brighter dreams conceiving ; 
Filigrees forever interweaving. 
Dimly, grimly, madly to them cleaving. 

Ever dreaming. 
Dreaming, dreaming, ever dreaming: 
Sometimes doubtful, oft confiding; 
Fearing evil is betiding. 
Still I'm hopefully abiding. 

Dreaming, dreaming. 



AEOLIG LYRICS 27 

WHY WEEPEST THOU? 

Beside the bier why should we rue and rave 

With waiHng heathen grief 

In skeptic unbelief? 
Lament not over the sod-covered grave 

And the cold chiseled stone, — 

From these the soul is flown. 

Will we not meet in that mystic spaceful sphere 
where dwell 

The angels of soft flight 

And Jesus, Prince of Light? 
Ay, O Christian ! rather our farewell. 

Than sorrowful, be sweet, — 

"Good-bye until we meet." 

The beaming orb has pow'r to resurrect 
The numb bee and shriveled turf. 
The moon sways the waves of surf. — 

Has the Giver and the Master Architect 
Designed the image of his eye 
To breathe a trice and forlornly die? 



28 AEO'LIC LYRICS 



LINES OF A YOUTHFUL PRINCE 

Why am I made to feel so discontented, — 
That the past is so ruefully lamented, 
That the present confronts me sore impatient, 
That the future again looms more repellent? 

'Tis because the anemone is too fair 

To breathe other than woodland's wild free air. 

And a beauteous country lass too pure 

To be stolen from Mother Nature. 

Ah, fair maiden, I would that thou mightst know, — 
When thy eyes, dark and deep with soulful glow, 
And thy innocent glance first mirrored mine. 
My heart humbled, and rose entwined with thine. 

Then to hear thy sweet speech enrapt and filled 
My warm heart with seraphic joy and thrilled 
The soft chords in my breast with agitation. 
As thy swan-white throat's chords in fluctuation. 

Thy dark glossy hair shades a brow as queenly 
As the Summer sky arched serenely 
Far above the vile world ; and thy pure soul 
Doth contented wear meek woman's aureole. 

Thy fantastic steps grace thy modest carriage. 
Who would then your unpretending way disparage? 
She, who holding to her allotted sphere 
Is submissive, is man's bright angel peer. 



AEOLIC LYRICS 29 

Of the gods there is one boon that I would ask, 
If in smiles of their favor I may bask : 
To enthrall thy leal virgin heart and kiss 
Thy chaste lips, — that indeed, for me full bliss ! 



30 AEOLIC LYRICS 

THERE'S A WILD MOSSY GLEN 

There's a wild'^mossy glen 
Hidden from sight of men. 
There me the beechwood stream 
Lulls in Elysian dream. 

Liver-leaves' curled pale tips, 
Wax-lushed arbutus lips. 
From the Spring's leaf-mould rise,- 
Glinting Youth's morning skies. 

Balmy winds waft sweet notes 
From the wild wood-birds' throats, 
Tingling the list'ning ear, 
Wakening mem'ries dear. 

Spring's soft green fairy opes 
Buds, and revives fond hopes, — 
Hopes that thrill far apart 
Deep in the secret heart ! 

When the spring sunshine's beam 
Dimples the murm'ring stream, 
Won't you come with me then 
To the wild mossy glen ? 



AEOLIC LYRICS 31 

SOMEHOW, SOMEWHERE, SOME TIME, 
SOME ONE 

Somehow to us there seems to be 
A happier realm beyond the sea; 
Somehow for us a hopeful evening star 
Beams in resplendence from afar. 

Somewhere the flow'rs are blooming fair, 
Rapturous music fills the air; 
Somewhere the seraphs wing their flight 
Gleaming with iridescent light. 

Some time the struggling soul will rise 
Clasping in peace the cherished prize. 
Some time the golden bell will toll 
Telling that Some One reached the goal. 



33 AEO'LIC LYRICS 



A FIRST SPRING DAY 

To-day reviving Nature sees 

The warbling bluecoat reflect 
The azure of the dome; the blackbirds tune the 
breeze 

With twanging dialect ; 
Meadow lark and song sparrow sing 

In raptured joyful strain 
The matins of returning Spring 

And herald Ceres' reign. 

Each clucking hen and lusty cock 

Resound the hopeful note ; 
The country maid in charming frock 

With music trills her throat. 
In rustic lanes the tint of green 

Is deep in springing blade. 
The farmer heeds the bidding queen 

And smooths his rusty spade. 

Full flowing brooks bear melted snow 

Thru meads from mountains' clutch, 
And put the willows into glow 

With water's magic touch. 
The March sun, ling'ring warm along 

The woodside, softly thrills 
The sheeny beech and chestnut throng, — 

Its mystic pow'r instills. 

E'en so I feel within my heart 

The spirit of the day : 
In happy vein, with modest art, 

I pen this vernal lay. 



AEOLIC LYRICS 33 



THE LOVER'S REQUIEM 

Thou bloom'st no more, — soft blushing rose, 
Of lovely mien and queenly pose. 
Death blanched thy florid cheek and chilled 
Thy veins, thy magic voice is stilled. 
Sleep, Sweet Heart, sleep ! 

Beneath the willow and green sod 
Earth's beauty mingles with the clod ; 
But, as a star, there shines to me 
The Light of Life that gleamed in thee. 
Sleep, Sweet Heart, sleep ! 

Tho deep and bitter was my grief 
To find my sweetest bliss so brief. 
Thy peace in Paradise I hold above 
The throbs and throes of mortal love. 
Sleep, Sweet Heart, sleep I 

The full charm of thy woman's grace 
And sweetness of thy gentle face 
Will linger by the rugged way 
To thrill and soften life each day. 
Sleep, Sweet Heart, sleep ! 

The Pow'r that led thy chaste young soul 
Will guide me to the holy goal, 
And when life's subtile fibril parts 
Eternally rejoin our hearts. 
Sleep, Sweet Heart, sleep ! 



34 AEOLIC LYRICS 



HER BIRTHDAY 

May God, who has made you gentle, beautiful, 

So amiable and so artless, 
Add sweeter years to life yet bright and youthful, 

And brim your chalice with love's largess. 

May your beloved be standing by your side 

On each recurring birthday, — ■ 
Guard you 'gainst ev'ry menace of the tide, 

Caress, cheer you, and smooth your way. 

And, Shipmate, when we've braved the weather 
May we drift into port together! 



AEOLIC LYRICS 35 

THE CALL OF THE BLUEBIRD 

With ruddy breast and coat of blue, 
A bird, and yet, a prophet, too, — 
Of Spring a tuneful harbinger, 
Of joy a happy trumpeter ! 

Its voice is caUing from the trees, 
Its song is borne upon the breeze, — 
A song of hope to weary ones, 
A bugle call to moiling sons ! 

Wild nature's deep occulted note 
Wells from this warbling bluebird's throat, 
Falls upon a hapless list'ning ear, — 
Awakes a soul and prompts a tear ; 

Recalls the joyful, dreamlike days 
When nature's charm ful artless ways 
And the sweet freedom of the wild 
Were kindred to the simple child. 

Oh, list, thou of the burdened soul, 
Cease striving for a sordid goal ! 
Oh, come where life is all unbound. 
Where beauty, bliss, and peace are found 1 

To feel no bond, to know no law, 
And own a joy no man e'er saw, — 
Ah, fettered heart, if thou couldst be, 
As this, as happy, wild, and free 1 



36 AEOLIC LYRICS 

EASTERTIDE 

This recurring Eastertide, 
As arose the Qirist who died, 
So revive the sere strewn glades, 
So emerge the em'rald blades. 

Now again do I renew 
The chord twining me with you, — 
As a bird song sweetly welling, 
As a leaf-bud softly swelling. 



AEOLIC LYRICS 



THE LOVER'S LONGING 

The chimes of city Sabbath bells 

In distant lofty spires 
Float o'er the valley like a chant 

Of deep celestial lyres. 

Alone upon the wooded slope 
I dream and long for thee 

To sweeten and fulfil my joy 
And share my reverie. 



38 AEOLIC LYRICS 

TO THE IRISH 

Here's to the Irish blood of surging flood and flow 
That flush and mantle brow and cheek with blush 

and glow, 
To Irish beauty nourished under Irish skies, 
The Irish spirit burnished deep in Irish eyes, 
The vivid wit, the eloquence, the songs that start 
From fervid Irish tongue and tingling Irish heart ! 



AEOLIC LYRICS 39 

IN THE WORLD OF MY DREAMS 

No nations and no creeds that passions fan 
For religious and for patriotic clan. 

Woman not man's mere lust-chattel. 
No stint on childhood's romp and prattle. 



40 AEOLIC LYRICS 

TOLSTOY 

A Great-Heart, scarred and chafing under bond, 
Burst the manacles of Mammon's canting creed ; 

A Gentle-Noble lived the Golden Law ; and donned 
The peasant's smock, to bear, to plod, and bleed. 

Artist, Liberal, O man almost divine ! 

Bearer of the Christian cross, — ^that crown is thine ! 



AEOLIC LYRICS 41 

DEATH : UNLEASHING THE SOUL 

Abroad the harrowed soul is now convoyed. 

The Soul! untrammeled and majestic, cast 
Awing across the verge of mortal void, 

Ascending into the celestial vast ! 



43 AEOLIC LYRICS 

O MY SOUL! 

Where singing pleiad stars and spheres refulgent 

roll, 
Awing in ringing spaceful realms, — O my soul ! 



AEOLIC LYRICS 43 

VICTOR HUGO 

Your tragic master mind impelled a magic pen, — 

Delineated in epopees of life 
The throes and blood-throbs of the hearts of men 

In lapse and flow of flesh and spirit strife. 

Grim knight of Liberty with glowing lance, 
Erect, defiant thunder-Thor of France, 
Despots shiver at the lightning of your ire! 
Poet of Light and Progress, twanging your majestic 

lyre 
For outcast poor and martyr young in fervent 

plea, — 
O eloquent Inspirer ! you enkindle me ! 



44 AEOLIC LYRICS 

YE MINDS OF FRANCE! 

O ye immortal minds of tragic France ! 

Leading the daring van in man's advance ; 

Your quills, steeped in the heart's molt, swept with 

lucid grace 
Words pulsing labored throbs of the aspiring race. 



AEOLIC LYRICS 45 

SCHILLER 

Not yours vain erudition's pedant lore, 

But yours the coursing fountain's silv'ry pour. 

Emotive thought exuberates with music's art 

And flows in noble numbers from your manly heart. 

In youth you grandly sung the revolution song 
Of the world's dispossessed, begrimed, and tragic 

throng ; 
Pondered History's coruscant horoscope, 
And voiced the madd'ning multitude's wild horrent 

hope. 

You fire the bounding bosom of aspiring youth, 
Infuse with astral gleams of ideal-truth; 
Exalt and stir his mind in sweet inspired unrest 
To disclose the godlike in his human breast. 



46 AEOLIC LYRICS 



RUMJ, THE PERSIAN MYSTIC 

I salute and call to you, O seer of souls, 
Soaring in the void beyond the outmost poles! 



AEOLIC LYRICS 47 

TO A BIRD'S-FOOT VIOLET IN 
DECEMBER 

Meek gemlet of the sparse-turfed open slope, 
Cerulean star of April's floral pleiades, 
Abloom amid bare earth and airs that freeze, 

When I espied thy blue-lobed envelope 

And stared and marveled that thine eye should ope 
As in day dreams of placid sky and balmy 

breeze, — 
So, imaged 'mid my mind's dim filmy filigrees 

I saw entwined the fresh flower of constant hope. 

When on my sight thou glean'st, O modest 
floweret ! 
I behold in thy serene, pellucid, sky-blue beam 
An emblem of a gentle bonny eyelet 
That enchants my mind, exalts my mounting 

dream 
With rapt inspiration glinting in its lucent 
gleam, — 
Soft, shining, blue like thee, O sweet star violet! 



48 AEOLIC LYRICS 

WOMAN : MASTER OF MAN 

'Tis not in woman's Heaven instituted sphere 

To command shrewishly, nor lowly to obey ; 

But tenderly to consecrate and nobly sway. 
Not as a thrall in meek abjection to adhere, 
But gentle angel guardian ever hov'ring near. 

Not merely ministering in the carnal clay ; 

But of afflatus fire the animating fay, — 
And, still, a placid pilot of his rash career. 

Not man's mere mistress thru the passions' tyranny. 
Mere mistress of desire, but queen in his esteem ; 
Not wielding in the flesh, but in the soul supreme. 

Her kindled eye the pole-star of his destiny. 
Her musing mind the matrix of his gestate 
dream, — 

Hers is the major chord in spirit symphony. 



SEP 4 1913 



